“There’s no need to be jealous, Asch,” I say glibly.
Asch must catch on to how unmoored I’m feeling. “I know, I know. There’s no reason to be. River won’t cheat on me.”
Blaze slides his arm across my shoulders. “We can always punish wandering eyes.” There’s a beat, then he adds, “With extra chores, of course.”
“Of course.” I turn my attention to the dean’s office door. “Is he going to be ready any time soon?”
“He’ll be ready when he’s ready,” the assistant says.
So that’s a no.
I give Asch and Blaze each a quick kiss and stand up, stuffing my hands into my hoodie pockets. “I’m going in,” I declare.
“Of course you are,” Asch says. To his credit, he doesn’t try to stop me.
The assistant gets up to block my path. “You can’t do that. Dean Stringer isn’t ready for you yet.”
I very pointedly roll my eyes. “He wanted me here for this meeting, and now he’s making me wait? I don’t care. I have other shit going on in my life too. He’s seeing me now or not at all.”
“I’m going to call campus security,” the assistant declares.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Blaze says. “What’s campus security going to do, anyway? Give us a stern lecture?” He gets up to stand next to me, looming a lot more menacingly than I can.
Damn, he’s hot when he’s aggressive like this.
If I wasn’t about to meet the dean, I’d be dropping my panties for him right now. Yes, in front of the assistant’s scandalized face.
She cowers back from him and slinks to her desk again.
“Thanks, Blabe,” I say, smiling at him.
He huffs in annoyance. “Seriously, stop it with that name,Panda.”
“Never!” I give him another quick kiss. “I’ll be out soon. You’d better have reservations ready.”
“For your cunt? Do I need a reservation for that?” Blaze asks, and I laugh into my hand.
Asch doesn’t even bother to stifle his laugh. “Thankfully not,” he says, and he gets up, too, to place a kiss to the top of my head. “Good luck, Pandora.”
So that’s it, I have all the pep talking out of the way. My confidence is bolstered, I have a war plan, etc., etc.
All that’s left is actually facing the dean, who Blaze assures me is a fucking pushover and that a few threats will get him to cower at my feet.
I do wonder if that’s a Bouchard special only, but the Pavone name isn’t exactly useless either.
I don’t bother knocking before I walk through the door.
It isn’t even locked.
Before Asch or Blaze can get delusions of following me, I shut the door behind me, and yes, I do lock it.
Dean Stringer is sitting at his massive desk with its two monitors, visibly startled by my presence.
“Who are you?” he asks, like he really has no fucking clue.
“Pandora Pavone, sir!” I reply cheerfully, heading over to the desk and sitting down on the edge of it. “You summoned me, so I’m a bit insulted you don’t recognize me.”
He flicks his gaze up and down my body. There’s something unsettling about it, something that makes me want to gouge his eyes out.
